After a rough 0-3 start, Cathy Inglis along with her rink Pat Kuspira, Donna Liebrecht and Bev Fuches wrapped up their showing at the Canadian Senior Women's Championship in Summerside, PEI, on March 16-24 with a strong finish, winning five out of their last eight games.
"I'm very happy with how we finished," said Inglis. "We had a bad start, but we had a strong surge to really turn around our luck. Near the end, we were in the mix for third place."
Taking into account the Yorkton natives were up against the very best Canada has to offer of Canadian senior women's curlers, Inglis is happy with her squad's eighth-place finish.
"We are happy with how everything played out," she said. "It's a world-class event and it is quite an accomplishment just to make it there. It was a fun week and just a great experience."
Inglis was rewarded for her strong play by being named a second-team all-star skip.
"It was nice to receive that honour," said Inglis. "There were so many strong curlers, so it's an honour to be recognized as a second-team all-star."
The Women's Curling Championship was the fourth national curling event of Inglis' career. But for the rest of her rink, it was their first taste of playing against other province's top curlers.
"I kind of knew what to expect because it was my fourth national event," said Inglis. "It was actually my second one in PEI. In 1996, I went to Charlottetown for a mixed event. But it was the rest of my team's first national event. So it was a new experience for them."
Although the weather was a touch nicer in PEI than Saskatchewan, Inglis was hoping for warmer days on the island.
"It was actually pretty cold there," she said. "One day they had a really bad snow blizzard and they shutdown the entire island. They don't tough those days out like we do."
Before buying tickets to PEI, Inglis captured her first Provincial Senior Women's Championship in Martensville in late February. She and her rink downed Merle Kopach in the championship game 8-2 to advance to the Canadian Senior Women's Championship.
"We played really well there," said Inglis. "I think we got stronger and stronger as it went on. We had a game plan and utilized it. I think that was the strongest week of curling we have ever played. In the final game, we controlled it pretty well. I was very happy with how that game went."
Final results: 1. Nova Scotia: Pinkney. 2. Alberta: Santos. 3. Quebec: Derick. 4. Manitoba: Fowler. 5. North Ontario: Barrett. 6. New Brunswick: Hanlon. 7. New Found Land: Phillips. 8. Saskatchewan: Inglis. 9. British Columbia: Lepine. 10. Ontario: Oryniak. 11. North West Territories: McKellar-Gillis. 12. Prince Edward Island: Murphy.
